Reluctant Man
by gf7
Summary: Missing Scene from Lady Shiva. Helena bribes Alfred for Barbara's location.


Title: Reluctant Man  
  
Author: Shawn Carter  
  
E-Mail: wolfpackproductions@comcast.net  
  
Website: (Not Yet Up)  
  
Feedback: Always appreciated.  
  
Notes: This is the first in my set of "Tweeners". Which is to say that these pieces will be about missing scenes from the 13 aired eps. There were unexplained places and events and I'm hoping to flesh out things a bit. Also, I needed a day off from Falling Backwards and the Survivor series fic. So, here's Thursdays work. Hope you enjoy.  
  
Summary: In Lady Shiva, there's a scene where Helena arrives in the middle of Shiva and Oracle fighting. Barbara asks what she's doing there and Helena replies that she bribed Alfred. Well here ya go.  
  
Rating: PG. Little bit of language.  
  
Music Notes: Title is Sprung Monkey  
  
*****  
  
She looked around, her blue eyes scanning the room with as much intensity as she could muster. She'd never exactly been one for detail but she figured that she could reasonably assume that her mentor wasn't hiding in one of the small dusty corners under the computer desk. She stifled a yawn and then glanced at one of the clocks.  
  
The night was still young. There was plenty of time left to party.  
  
After of course several issues were addressed.  
  
Such as her mentor apparently blowing off Dinah which was incredibly weird. That just wasn't something that Barbara Gordon ever did. Like as in ever.  
  
"Barbara?" she called out, listening to the air move around her.  
  
There was a song doing the rounds in her head so even that sense was a little bit off. It kept playing over and over like a damn record that refused to stop.  
  
Peaches. Bloody Peaches.  
  
Millions of them  
  
Put there by a man.  
  
Ah hell.  
  
She rolled her eyes dramatically and slapped the side of her head with her fingers. She made a note to herself to change the radio station on her alarm clock. Some songs were not okay to wake up to.  
  
She stepped around to the front of one of the computer monitors and bent over it. The screen was showing some strange screensaver that looked rather like Strawberry Shortcake after a trip through a blender on high. To call it grotesque would have been an understatement of epic proportions. "Ewww," she groaned.  
  
She reached forward to move the mouse in order to disable to screensaver. "Stupid thing," she muttered, squinting in the harsh overhead lights of the room. That definitely meant that Oracle was somewhere else because bright was not something the redhead tended towards.  
  
The screen blipped to life with a red task bar in the middle. Whatever it was doing didn't look terribly interesting. Banal really. She clicked on a window and saw a map of downtown come up. She frowned, trying to figure out why it seemed so familiar.  
  
Finally, shaking her head she made her way towards the kitchen. Maybe Barbara was grading papers. She liked to do at the eating table because she said it felt the most normal.  
  
Whatever the hell that was supposed to mean.  
  
Nope. Not here either.  
  
She sighed and went over to the refrigerator. She pulled the steel doors open and looked inside. It was at about half stock. She tilted her head and started to look towards the back for the salsa that always ended up getting hidden. Usually by Barbara.  
  
"Miss Helena," Alfred said from behind her, making her jump several inches.  
  
She placed a flat palm over her heart. "Alfred," she exclaimed. "Damn."  
  
He smiled wryly. "I didn't mean to sneak up on you."  
  
"Of course you did," she laughed, a bit nervously. She shook her head and looked around again, remembering why she'd originally come to the Clocktower. Yeah, so maybe Oracle was right and she really did have the attention span of a lima bean on stupid pills. So what?  
  
"Perhaps," he admitted, almost slyly.  
  
"Uh huh. Alfred, where's Barbara?" she queried, a bit insistently.  
  
"I'm not sure," he replied softly, eyes sliding across her. He was studying her, checking her over for wounds or anything that might be unusual. He'd done it a thousand times before. It was an almost calming inspection. When he was satisfied that she was okay, he brought his eyes back up to meet hers.  
  
"Wait a minute, you're always sure," Helena noted abruptly "You know something and you're not telling."  
  
She walked around towards him. If he hadn't known her better, he would have taken the approach in a threatening manner. But he did know her and one of the things about her that was a constant was the way she moved. She really was a huntress. In all aspects of the word.  
  
He nodded slowly. "How did patrol go this evening?"  
  
She snorted. "Same as usual. You know, moron attacks, I kick him, he keeps coming and I have to turn his face into sushi. And I wonder why Reese and I are firmly stuck at first base."  
  
"Indeed," Alfred replied. He bent over to wipe dust off the table. "How is it going with you and the good detective?"  
  
"Alfred, don't think I didn't catch that you totally avoided the question," Helena answered with a knowing smirk. She was partly teasing him but the other half of it was that she had no desire to get too much in depth about how it was going with Reese.  
  
Because best she could tell, it wasn't going at all.  
  
And to her surprise, that bothered her more than she'd care to admit.  
  
"Have you eaten?" he asked.  
  
Helena groaned. He was actively trying to make her lose focus which considering how very easy that was to do was really not a good idea.  
  
"Where's Barbara?" she replied, a little more tersely this time. "Look, she probably made you promise but please, something is going on with her. Something serious. She's in way over her head."  
  
Alfred paused and she could tell that he was at war with himself. "She's out," he finally replied, his voice much quieter than it should have been. He was worried. And that worried her.  
  
He turned and walked away from her, heading into the back. Helena stalked after him, frustration stretching her features. "What the hell does that mean?"  
  
They crossed into the room where the former uniforms were kept. The only one being currently displayed was Barbara's former costume. That of Batgirl.  
  
Wait.  
  
No wait.  
  
It was gone.  
  
"Alfred, where is it?" Helena nearly hissed. She clenched her fists and closed her eyes. There was no sense in yelling at him. She took a deep breath.  
  
In. Out. In. Out.  
  
"I'm sorry," he started, shaking his head. He was trying to keep a confidence, that much was obvious. She almost felt bad for him.  
  
Almost.  
  
"Where did she take the cost." she stopped abruptly. "Alfred, oh God.did she put that thing on her back?"  
  
Her eyes widened at the thought of Barbara trying to stand with that monstrosity hooked to her spine. Her mentor had always thought of the device as some kind of salvation but Helena had always feared it to a degree. Science was something she couldn't quite understand. It wasn't always exactly tangible. And the fact that it hurt Barbara made Helena even less likely to give it a chance.  
  
"I really need to return to the dishes," he said, starting to move away. "I'm quite behind and you and Miss Dinah have left a sink full." He had already led her to the room and to some of the answers but he feared that he simply couldn't justify supplying more.  
  
"Oh fuck!" Helena growled. "Tell me what I want to know and I'll do the dishes for a month."  
  
"Deal," he said simply, turning back towards her.  
  
She blinked. "Huh?"  
  
"You said if I told you where Miss Barbara went, you'd do the dishes for the next month," he reminded her with a sly grin. "This deal sounds acceptable to me."  
  
"Oh.okay? Did you just con me?"  
  
He just smiled back at her in a way that seemed to suggest he had but he'd never admit it. Instead he settled for giving her the answers she'd asked for. "She went to meet up with Lady Shiva. I believe there is a map of the location on the computer."  
  
Helena spun on her heel and went back to the computer. She flicked the screensaver off and looked at the map. Once she figured out the quickest route across the rooftops, she turned away. "Thank you."  
  
He smiled. "No thank you. Now hurry, you're right, she is using the device. I don't believe it's quite ready for long-term use."  
  
Helena turned back to face him. "How could you let her go?"  
  
He shook his head, almost sadly. "I have very little control over what choices you women make. I trust you all to use your heads. Even you. You've come through so much that I have little reason to doubt you. Now or ever."  
  
"That didn't exactly answer my question," Helena replied. "But thanks, I think."  
  
"I couldn't stop her," he finally answered, very simply.  
  
"Why not? What in the hell is going on with her? Who is this woman that has her acting like a maniac?"  
  
"That's not my story," he said. "It's hers to tell."  
  
She grunted. "Fine. She's gonna tell it." She muttered a few more things under her breath.  
  
She tossed him back a look. He smiled at her. "Good luck," he said to her as she disappeared into the elevator. As the doors closed, he could swear that he heard her singing to herself.  
  
Something about peaches coming in a can.  
  
Or something like that.  
  
He stepped back a few feet. He closed his eyes and let the quiet of the Clocktower wash over him.  
  
It would be ok.  
  
Helena would get to Barbara before Shiva hurt her.  
  
She had to.  
  
Simply had to.  
  
After several long minutes he finally dropped down into a chair.  
  
To wait.  
  
It was all he could do.  
  
Wait and have faith.  
  
-FIN 


End file.
